The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest losses in early afternoon trade after the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50% from 5.25%. The rate hike, along with the RBI’s policy stance and commentary on inflation, kept investors cautious. Market participants will track high-frequency economic indicators, global market trends, crude oil prices and currency movements for further cues on the interest-rate trajectory. The Nifty traded near the 22,650 mark, while the Sensex remained under pressure.

Realty shares dropped for the second consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 266.72 points or 0.37% to 72,801.32. The Nifty 50 index fell 124.10 points or 0.55% to 22,651.15.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 150 Index shed 0.37% and the Nifty SmallCap 250 Index added 0.18%.

The market breadth was negative. On the NSE, 1,494 shares rose and 1,931 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term jumped 1.12% to 13.76. The Nifty 27 October 2026 futures were trading at 22,724 at a premium of 72.85 points as compared with the spot at 22,651.15.

The Nifty option chain for the 27 October 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 91.6 lakh contracts at the 23,500 strike price. A maximum put OI of 50.3 lakh contracts was seen at the 22,000 strike price.

RBI hikes repo rate by 25 bps to 5.50%

The RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50% from 5.25%, in line with expectations, after its three-day meeting on 5-7 October. The RBI raised the repo rate for the first time in nearly three years and changed its policy stance from neutral to calibrated tightening. The Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate was raised to 5.25%, while the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and bank rate remained unchanged at 5.75%.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index declined 1.03% to 828.80. The index fell 1.30% in the two straight trading sessions.

Brigade Enterprises (down 1.6%), Aditya Birla Real Estate (down 1.38%), DLF (down 1.37%), Godrej Properties (down 1.13%), Prestige Estates Projects (down 1.03%), Lodha Developers (down 0.82%), Oberoi Realty (down 0.69%), Phoenix Mills (down 0.53%) declined.